Fiji is ranked fourth in the South Pacific this year, in terms of HIV and Aids cases with the current total for this year standing at 271 cases.

This was confirmed to Fijivillage by the senior project officer for Marie Stopes International Atunaisa Cokanivau who raised concern at the figures for last month alone which sees a total of 6 new cases since the last statistics released by the Ministry of Health up until the month of May.

The NGO, set up in the country in 2002 is solely set-up to see that the public have access to HIV and STI counseling along with cheap health checkups.

According to Cokanivau, Papua New Guinea, Guam, and the Cook Islands are the top three and adds that if Fiji is not careful then we maybe in the top three.

Meanwhile, the NGO is bracing itself for a surge in people who will access their open door health services this month.

Cokanivau said the Organization has noted that during festive months, people go to the Clinic for STI and Health checkups and for last year's Hibiscus alone they had a total of 460 people seeking their services where 173 took HIV tests.